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By Alisa Hauser, Staff Writer
A sign near the front door of the Tender Loving Care Animal Shelter in Homer Township says It's unlawful to abandon animals. Violators will be prosecuted. Hand painted and depicting a cuddly dog and cat, the wooden sign looks like it could just as easily say Welcome..
But at TLC, signs don't have to do the welcoming - the animals and the founders, Janine and Dennis Carter, have that part of the visitor experience under control.
In a premier, second-level cage at a prime corner location near the entrance, two kittens, a brother and sister, stretch their paws through the bars to welcome visitors. They meow and purr and look as demure and innocent as possible to attract some attention to themselves.
All around, the animals are very awake and very aware of the people in the room - unlike the glassy stares of many puppies and kittens in shopping mall pet stores.
This brother and sister, who have no names, were separated from their litter because each has no hind-leg foot.
Janine Carter believes it is a birth defect and also believes this is a probable reason the sibling kittens, a calico and tabby, have been in the shelter for nearly a month, an unusually long stay for kittens, who are usually adopted more frequently than older animals.
"Look at them play. They have no idea they're missing a foot. They don't care about it," Carter said. "Only the people who are adopting seem to care."
Since 1974, when Carter and her husband, Dennis, helped begin the shelter along with a Chicago group of volunteers who later backed out in their support ("They had some internal problems and didn't want to drive all the way out to Homer Township every week," Dennis said), TLC has been the best home around for stray animals.
For Dennis, animal welfare has always played a strong role in his family's beliefs. His father managed an animal humane shelter in Hinsdale until he passed away and the Carter's son, Dennis Jr., now 28, works at TLC and predicts a long career there.
"Our whole family has just kind of grown up here," Dennis Sr. said. "Caring for animals just has to be in your blood. This is definitely not a business venture. We barely break even," he said.
When Dennis first moved out to the southern suburbs in the early 1970's, he didn't even plan on beginning an animal shelter, until one of his brothers took him on a tour of the area, which included all the places where people commonly abandon or abuse their animals.
"Especially since Homer was so much more rural back then, you had people just leaving their animals out in the fields, or taking them to the dump and shooting them. There were cockfights. It was very uncivilized," he said.
By 1974, the Carters and some volunteers had convinced the community there was a strong need for an animal shelter, and TLC began with funding from the Chicago Humane Society and local volunteers in Homer Township.
Today, thousands of dogs, cats and other household pets have passed through the doors of the shelter on 151st street, which enacts a no-kill policy to the best of their abilities. Many animals have found homes in the homes of volunteers, who number at 1,500 on the mailing list.
"We've got a solid core of about 20 volunteers who come here every week," Dennis Carter noted. "Having long-term volunteers can be difficult because of the nature of this business. You're constantly dealing with heavy emotions."
Over the past 23 years, Carter said he's seen so many sad circumstances and reasons for pets being given up by their owners.
"A man might come in bringing a cat that belonged to his wife but she died, or families in the middle of divorce don't want to deal with their pets, so they bring them here," he said.
Carter has also dealt with families who have lost their home and businesses from bankruptcy, and, although they love their household dog or cat, there's just no room in a car or hotel room for the animal.
"A few years back when the economy was bad that happened to us so many times," he said. "It still happens, though. Just last week a guy pulled up with his wife and kids in the car and gave us their dog and a few cats."
As the economy has gotten better, a new trend among young couples and their pets plagues the shelter's record books: giving away a dog or cat when a baby is born.
"We get so many because a baby is born or from allergies. It's an easy excuse," he said.
Yet no matter how the animals get to TLC, once they arrive they're assured to at least get plenty of visitors. On a recent afternoon, over the course of one hour, six people visit the shelter to look at the animals and inquire about possible adoption.
Carol Sutton, of Lockport, stopped by on her way home from work. The mother of two children and host to a variety of animals recently experienced the loss of a cat last week named Yoda.
Peering into a cage of kittens, Sutton smiles at a long-haired black cat huddling in the corner away from the rest of the litter.
Sutton smiles and reaches a finger through the cage to coax the cat, whose name is only #3407 to come closer to the front of the cage.
"Gee, that's just like Yoda. If Yoda came back for another life it's in this kitten," she said, sighing. "But I can't do it, adopt this cat. It wouldn't be fair to Yoda's memory. Plus my husband and kids would kill me if I made a decision and brought home a pet without them."
Nevertheless, Sutton still went to the front counter and asked to look in the files to find out more about "the-cat-who-could-be-Yoda."
"I'm just curious about the adoption procedure here. I've never adopted from here," she said.
At TLC, adoption hours are Tuesday-Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dennis Carter explains that the short hours of operation are imposed because the animals need a rest from all the people and have to be fed, cleaned and walked.
In addition to the animals available for adoption, there's always a few resident cats walking around freely. One of them, a snowy, long-haired cat named Shorty, is the shelter's official mascot.
Shorty has his own newsletter, which recently published its holiday issue. To read his rendition of Twas the Night Before Christmas you can visit the shelter or become a member.